The Start of Something
by thingsjusthappen
Summary: A teenage Emma Swan finds herself in Storybrooke placed with a new foster parent and attending High School.


_A/N: So much potential just down the drain with this story. I think I started writing this like a year or two ago. It's just been sitting in a document wasting away. At one time I wanted to make it a full story because I really like AU-HS stories. So this one came to be after I read another author's story about Theory of Magic...I really wish I could remember who wrote it and the correct title of the story because it was the inspiration for this. It is a one-shot and unfortunately it will leave you wanting more because I, myself want more...however I cannot bring myself to find the muse that began writing it. So without further ado...wait, ignore obvious plot holes, spelling and grammar mistakes because I did...now enjoy and let me know what you think if you'd like. :)_

* * *

 ** _The Start of Something_**

Emma sighed as she sat in her new foster mom's classroom waiting until it was time to walk over to the high school that was across the street. She was in yet another new school, in another new town, and when the day was over she'd be headed back to yet another new foster home. At least this time there was no foster father, just a mother. That's where most of her problems lay since her first family died in a car accident and she began moving to new homes, the fathers were perverted bastards who seemed to love trying to pray upon her. Not anymore, not since she found the courage to report those assholes.

Her head was down and she wanted more sleep but this small desk was not adequate enough for her liking. "Emma?" Emma looked up blinking a few times to clear her vision as the pixie-cut brunette smiled at her.

"Huh?"

"There's thirty minutes until the bell rings, I thought you might want to walk over and get your schedule and such." Emma blinked once more looking at the clock at the front of the classroom. Running her hand over her face she stretches her back and arms with a yawn.

"I guess I did nod off." Emma comments standing up as her foster mother gives her a warm smile. _That's not going to last_. She thinks giving the woman a half smile grabbing her backpack and walking out of the room with a quick "bye". The first few week were the easiest because that's when the foster parents were the nicest, and this pixie haired brunette was no exception in Emma's mind.

Walking out of the elementary school Emma looked across the street at the high school. It sort of reminded her of the school from Grease. It was old looking, well, more historical she guessed, nothing like the ones she'd gone to in the city.

For a moment Emma contemplates just skipping but she'd only been with Mary Margaret for three days having arrived Friday evening. This was her first day of school, she should at least go and get her schedule if nothing else.

Emma found school to be boring at most. The material was easy for her, it always had been. A lot of her previous foster parents thought she skipped because she was stupid and didn't understand the material, but that wasn't the case, the material just bored her. Emma had a high IQ she just preferred not to be labeled as a Nerd and get into fights about it.

Walking into the front office Emma stops at the desk looking down at a woman who is typing out something. Clearing her throat the woman looks up a bit frazzled. "Oh hi, how can I help you sweetie?" She asks gaining her composure.

"Um, Emma Swan, I'm new and wanted to get my schedule." The woman's eyes light up with a nod.

"Yes, I don't have your schedule but I have a list of the courses you were enrolled in, Mr. Nolan has your official time table. How is Maggie? She helping you adjust to our sleepy town?" Emma blinks, how the woman knew— it's _a small town idiot_. Emma berates herself as the woman hands her some papers but her schedule is on top.

Emma looks at the schedule before looking back at the secretary. "Is this right?" Emma asks the woman who nods as Emma looks back at her schedule in disbelief.

"Yes, the placement test you took and from your previous records it shows us that even with your young age, you're in senior level courses. Maggie thought it would be best to place you the advanced placement courses we have to better challenge you and keep you interested." The woman explained as Emma snorted slightly, maybe her foster mom wasn't as clueless as Emma thought her to be. Looking at her schedule she sighed slightly, she would need to actually attend her classes to graduate this year.

She had four advanced placement courses; European History, Senior Studio, Writing Concepts, and Anatomy and Physiology. Her other classes included a free period, Probability and Statistics, Spanish, Methods of Magical Thought and Theory. It wasn't a bad— _wait what_?

"Uh, what's Methods of Magical Thought and Theory?" Emma asks looking at the woman once more who just smiles.

"A class taught by the principal Mr. Gold, you meet the requirements to take the class, only a handful of people do. You should be excited." Emma glares at the woman with her vague explanation. "By the way, there is a form under your schedule that will need to be signed by all your teachers, just to make sure you get to class, ok?" Emma nodded as the woman smiled before telling her to have a wonderful day and welcome to the town.

Walking out the doors of the office Emma just stares at her schedule. Mary Margaret must have read her file and understood things that others hadn't even bothered with. It seemed the woman was not as naïve and clueless as she looked. Every previous school she'd gone to had just placed her in random classes that rarely held her interest. Looking up Emma watched as some other students were walking in and heading to their homerooms. This was going to be interesting to say the least, and maybe, just maybe she would actually enjoy being here.

zZz

"Miss Swan?" Emma looked up from her sketchpad at the voice that had just addressed her.

"Yes Mr. Nolan?" He seemed like a nice person, but it was more than likely because she was new.

"I have your revised schedule." Emma took the piece of paper looking at it and thanking him without looking up. Her first class was AP Writing Concepts, followed by AP European History, and Probability and Statistics. Right before lunch she had Senior Studio which made her smile, if she needed to she could skip lunch and just stay in that class because, for Emma, sometimes it was a little hard to make friends. After lunch she had Advanced Anatomy and Physiology, then finished out the day with a Spanish class, Methods of Magic and a free period.

Emma blinked reading that last class once again before her free period. She wondered if it was like the history of witchcraft. It intrigued Emma, especially since the family that had found her and taken her in as a baby had been part of a small coven of witches. Emma still remembered some simple spells she had been taught before the accident. She still used them when no one was around, but this made her wonder what exactly this class was about.

"May I ask why you are here so early Miss Swan?" Emma blinked and looked over to Mr. Nolan.

"Uh, Miss—Mary Marg…right Maggie, works over at the elementary school, I came with her not realizing how early it would be. I think I may skip the ride tomorrow." Emma answered as he nodded at the information.

"If it's not to forward of me, are you a relative of Mags? I don't remember her mentioning anything about someone staying with her." Emma shook her head setting down her class schedule.

"No, um, she's my uh, foster parent."

"Oh, I didn't know she was one." Emma nodded pressing her lips together as she reopened her sketch book effectively ending the conversation between her and Mr. Nolan. Emma looked at the lily she had drawn and on one of the petals Emma started out drawing a curved line and from the line branched out to make wings. Ten minutes into her drawing someone startled Emma by talking.

"You're very talented." Emma looked to the voice and found a platinum blonde with piercing blue eyes giving her a smile as she looked back to the sketch.

"Oh, thank you, um, I'm Emma." The girl nodded.

"A fellow E, nice." The girl chuckled. "I'm Elsa and we heard we were getting a new person, I thought you were supposed to start yesterday?" Emma nodded putting down her pencil.

"I was supposed to, but Miss Blanchard wanted me to go through testing before starting. I don't think she liked the incomplete school records kept on me." Emma shrugged as Elsa nodded with a kind of understanding.

"Yeah, until I ended up here, schools didn't really seem to care, along with the parents who took me and my sister in." Emma tilted her head slightly at the implied information.

"Foster kid?"

"Even worse, orphan. My parents died when I was seven and my sister was three."

"I can relate, with the orphan part, I never knew my parents, abandon at birth."

"Ah, a kindred spirit, I think we may just get along better than I thought." Elsa smiled as Emma returned it. "Do you think you'll graduate with us?" Elsa asked as others began filing into the classroom.

"I don't know, Maggie seems nice, so it's a possibility." Emma shrugged as Elsa nodded understanding.

"Mind if I look at your class schedule?" Elsa asked as Emma nodded her head towards it as Emma started shading in her drawing.

"Hey Elsa! Hi…um, Emma?" Emma let out a small sigh upon hearing her name, it seemed small towns were social and curious when it came to new people. Placing her pencil behind her ear she closed her sketch book and looked up to see a bright red head with vibrant green eyes smiling at her. "I'm Ariel! Did I get your name right?" Emma smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you Ariel." Ariel nodded as she caught a glimpse of what Elsa had in her hand.

"Oh we have Spanish together! You'll love Señor Boots! El es muy divertido!" Ariel spoke as Elsa glared at her friend and Emma smiled at the flawless switch in languages.

"Why does no like German? I swear everyone here takes French, Spanish, or Latin, all of you suck." Elsa grumbled as Ariel laughed.

"Well isn't Mulan in German with you?"

"She doesn't count, the girl speaks like five different languages." Elsa pointed out as Emma smiled amused by their banter.

"Well so do the French twins." Ariel pointed out as Elsa rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, whatever, I don't care. Emma how many languages do you speak?"

"Just three."

"German one of them?"

"No, um, Spanish, Sign and English."

"Sign?" Ariel asked as Emma nodded. The third family that had taken her in, the mother was deaf and Emma had been more than willing to learn, she'd only been with them a year and a half until they'd sent her back after having a baby of their own.

"Yeah, American Sign Language." Emma explained as Elsa looked intrigued by the information.

"Why did you learn that?" Elsa found herself questioning.

"A foster mother was deaf, I was so interested in the form of communication that the family had taught me." Emma explained as Ariel's eyes widened at the implication of information that Emma had just readily given to her. Emma was a foster kid.

"That's so interesting, I only know Spanish and English. It's fun talking to Chicha when Elsa is around because she gets super annoyed when we switch back and forth." Ariel explained wanting to switch the topic knowing that it was probably uncomfortable to talk about it. Ariel knew that Elsa had had a hard time with it until she'd moved in with her cousin Rapunzel and their family.

"Yeah, it's annoying, like you." Elsa mock sneered as Ariel rolled her eyes pulling her arm around her friends shoulder and kissing her cheek affectionately. Emma was a bit surprised by the action and wondered if the two were dating.

"You love me, Winters."

"Only because I have no other choice."

"Lies, anyways, did I tell you that Eric got accepted to the music place in Boston?" Ariel gushed getting even more exited as Elsa shook her head and looked to Emma.

"Eric is the boy toy, they're practically married already." That answered Emma's previous question. "But no, you didn't tell me, and isn't it a little early in the year? We haven't even made it to Christmas yet and he already knows where he's going after graduation?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping to get into the school in Maryland, Attina is taking me next weekend to visit."

"A long distance relationship, won't that be hard?" Emma found herself asking as Ariel shrugged.

"I mean, if it's meant to be, it'll all work out. I believe it will. He loves music and I love marine biology, so we are pursuing our passions, if our passions tear us apart then so be, it wasn't meant to be." Ariel answered as Emma just blinked at the explanation in surprise. Even at the age of fifteen, she considered herself to be pretty mature. Skipping a few grades, helped her academically and she'd be able to get out of the system early, she had planned to emancipate herself when she turned sixteen. She knew the process was a long one, but she'd be able to be her own person.

"Wow, um, well then more power to you."

"Miss Winters, shouldn't you be in homeroom?" Mr. Nolan asked as Elsa turned her attention to him.

"Mrs. Shoemaker saw that I'm here, so what's the point when you're my first period?" Mr. Nolan just rolled his eyes at her sickly sweet smile as he walked over to the whiteboard and started writing something that was for his first period class. "He asks me that every day and gets the same answer. I don't like Mrs. Shoemaker and she doesn't like me, so the less I have to see the wretched woman the better." Elsa breathed icily as Emma's brow rose at the sudden change in demeanor.

"Don't mind her Emma, she's being overly dramatic." Elsa rolled her eyes before looking back at the blonde.

"Any who, is your foster mom a hardass or something?" Elsa asked looking up from the schedule as Emma didn't answer. "Most of your classes are AP, you have a death wish or something? Especially you know, we're a month and half into the semester. With it being senior year I'm taking it easy that's for sure."

"Uh, I don't mind, but I kind of figured I'd be placed in regular classes since the school year had already started." Emma shrugged not wanting to talk about her guardianship any more than she had as more people filed into the classroom.

"It's odd, 'cause you know, you're magical."

"Huh?"

"You have Methods of Magic, only the—" Elsa stopped as the bell rung out signaling it was time for first period. "Oh, well I will see you in Methods." Elsa smiled handing the schedule back as Emma stood up and looked at to get the room number for her English class.

 _Room 220_ , _Ms. DeVille_. Walking down the hall Emma made an abrupt stop and turned sharply cursing under her breath, she was going the wrong way. A few people looked at her oddly but no one said anything, not they would being in a hurry to get to their class their selves.

Walking into the room Emma eyes the teacher cautiously. The woman had black hair but Emma could that underneath was blonde, nearly white. The woman had on a bright red lip stain that in Emma's opinion worked for the older woman.

"Hi, um, the main office said you need to sign this." Emma spoke handing the form to her English professor as the woman gave her a once over before taking the paper.

"Emma Swan, any relation to Odette?" The woman's voice was deep, had a slight rasp to it which oddly matched the woman's look. Emma shook her head at the question with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"Um, no, at least not that I'm aware of." Handing the form back Ms. Deville told her to stand there a moment.

"Class." Ms. Deville spoke as they turned their attention to their teacher and to Emma whose face immediately began to blush. She wasn't shy per se, she just really didn't like attention on her like this. It was always the same when she switched into a new school. "We have a new student who is going to introduce herself." Ms. Deville smiled as she looked to Emma a glint in her eyes as Emma wanted to scowl.

"Emma Swan, I'm fifteen, and I hate that I'm probably going to have to introduce myself today more than once." Emma snarked as Ms. Deville raised a brow at the young girl clearly amused.

"Why are you in a senior advanced English class if you're fifteen?" Someone called out as Emma looked around to identify who'd asked it.

"Miss Midas, we raise our hands when we have questions." Emma looked to the blonde girl who just shrugged looking sheepish as Ms. Deville looked to her expecting an answer.

"I uh, skipped a few grades." Emma shrugged answering the question easily. She was supposed to be in the tenth grade but Emma was ok with being a senior because it meant that she would graduate earlier. She'd thought about getting her GED but found that even though she skipped class a lot she felt the need to graduate, to prove herself to everyone who'd said she'd fail.

"Very interesting, now please take the seat next to Miss Mills in front of Mr. Booth." Emma scanned the room looking at the open desk that was in front a young man who was waving at her with a warm smile. Walking to her seat Ms. Deville started talking about a quiz that they were about to take on literary terms.

As Emma sat down the kid behind her tapped her shoulder causing her to turn around. He gave her a smile. "Names August, if you need anything let me know."

"Uh, thanks." He winked at her before she turned back around as Emma heard a scoff to her right. Turning to look at the source of the noise Emma found _Miss Mills_ looking at her, giving her a full flash judgment.

"Why would you join an AP course a month into the semester? That's idiotic." The girl spoke as Emma looked at her. She had deep mocha eyes that matched medium length brown wavy hair. She had a hint of caramel to her skin indicating a European, maybe Spaniard ancestry. Emma didn't anything as the person in front of her passed the quiz sheet back to her.

"Miss Swan, just try your best to complete the quiz to the best of your knowledge." Ms. Deville spoke as Emma nodded before reaching for her glasses case that was in the pocket of her brown leather jacket. Opening the case Emma put on her glasses and set the case on the corner of her desk before looking at the quiz.

 _Anthropomorphism. Antithesis. Non Sequitur. Dysphemism. Cadence. Didacticism. Ethos. Pathos. Logos. Bathos. Concession. Deus Ex Machina…_

Emma looked at the rest of the words and smiled, she knew these words. All of them. This was too easy, did Ms. Deville really expect these words to be hard? Maybe this was just a review quiz. Matching the definitions was easy and she ended up finishing the quiz in five minutes. Putting her utensil down Emma took her glasses off and placed them on the top of her head. Looking around it seemed that only a few others were finished also, that included the brunette beside her.

Emma took a moment to look at her and she smiled, _Miss Mills_ had on glasses and was currently reading something while she waited. Emma thought the young woman beside her was gorgeous. Glancing at her once more Emma put her glasses on once more picking up her pencil and opening her sketchbook to an empty page.

Emma started to sketch the book and the way the brunette's held the book. It was a careful grasp as if she didn't want to ruin the already well-worn book. Getting lost in her sketch Emma didn't realize that there was someone hovering over her shoulder.

In her previous group home she'd gotten used to the other girls staring over her shoulder while she would lose herself in her art. She remembers the one girl, Peach, commenting about how once Emma got started it was exceptionally difficult to pull the girl from her work.

"Miss Swan, while I understand that you are new here and may not know the material that doesn't give you the right to disregard the work handed to you." Emma blinked looking up at Ms. Deville over her glasses.

"I uh, finished the quiz." Emma stated plainly as putting her pencil down over the nearly finished sketch. She was working on the depth of the face and needed to finish Miss Mills' nose and eye from the side profile.

"Really? Let me see." Ms. Deville held out her hand expectantly as Emma pulled the piece of paper from under sketchbook and handed it to the woman. Looking over it Emma didn't care to watch the woman and continued to sketch not even caring that people were currently looking in her direction. "Very good." Was all Emma heard as the woman took her quiz and continued walking around the room.

" _Usted engañó_." Emma looked to her right at the brunette who was still looking at her book.

"I didn't cheat, I just happen to know the material." Emma whispered as the brunette looked at her a bit of surprise shown in mocha orbs as Emma smirked before turning back to her sketch.

zZz

" _Mija_ , is your sister still here? Your mother would like to not be late today." Regina looked up from what she was doing and shook her head hearing footsteps nearing from the other room.

"No Papa, Lena left already. Granny called and asked if she could help open because it's a full moon." Henry Mills nodded looking at his daughter who got up from her seat and walked into the kitchen.

"Are you going to eat breakfast, Regina?" Cora Mills asked as Regina walked over to the fruit bowl and picked up an apple.

"I was looking over words for my lit. quiz today, didn't realize how late it was, I'll just eat an apple." Regina explained to the Mills matriarch who nodded grabbing her purse and keys and heading towards the garage door making sure to kiss her husband before heading to her car. "Mom can you quiz me please?" Regina asked holding the paper with her words and definitions. Cora nodded turning on the car before reaching for the paper her daughter was holding.

In the ten minute drive to Storybrooke High School Regina had gone through half the words on the list but felt even more confident about the quiz in her first period. As Cora pulled the car to a stop Regina simultaneously took the study sheet and kissed her mom on the cheek. "Thanks mom! I'll see at dinner tonight!"

"Don't forget you need to be at the stables tonight with your father." Cora called after her daughter who nodded walking into the schools front doors with a few other students.

Sitting in homeroom Regina tried to tune the gossip of Miss Blanchard's new house guest. "I heard she's in Mr. Nolan's homeroom, so I'll get to meet her as soon as Shoemaker does freaking attendance." Elsa told Mulan who just shrugged.

"Hey Mills are you and Midas trying out for the musical this year?" Graham asked as Regina didn't look up from her study sheet.

"Ask me later, studying." Regina spoke as Elsa rolled her eyes as Mulan shook her head with a smile. Regina Mills was the top student in the senior class, going to be valedictorian just like her sister had been four years ago. The Mills were a powerful family and not just because their mother was the mayor, they were all witches.

"Miss Winters, would you like detention with a lesson on how to properly sit on a chair and what a desk is used for?" Elsa rolled her eyes picking up her books from beside her and stood up.

"No, but I would like to use the restroom. So may I _please_ be excused?" Elsa asked in the sweetest voice she could muster as Mulan tried not to laugh at her blonde haired friend.

"Yes you may." Mrs. Shoemaker said looking down at the papers on her desk as Elsa smirked walking out the room and headed to Mr. Nolan's class where her first class was and also Ariel who was one of her closet friends.

"You're going to do fine, Reggie." Regina looked up at her friend who was now sitting on the edge of her desk.

"I know, however, I like to be one hundred percent sure." Regina said simply as Kathryn rolled her eyes.

"Iridessa just texted me and told me that the new girl's name is Emma Swan, do you think she's related to Odette?" Regina rolled her eyes this time.

"What is it with everyone and this new girl?"

"Oh please Reggie don't even act like you're not interested, when was the last time we got a new person in our grade? Um, let's see? It was back in third grade when August showed up, that was last time someone moved to this sleepy town." Kathryn pointed out as Regina tucked her study sheet into her English book.

"Actually, it was Elsa and as hard as this maybe to believe, I'm not interest in this Miss Swan person, go gossip with someone who actually cares." Regina breathed as Kathryn just looked at her friend.

"You do care, but anyways, has Mallory tried anything in your Methods class?" Kathryn switched topics as Regina frowned. Mallory Stilling was her rival when it came to magic, yes Regina was slightly better but the girl still had a major grudge against her for some unknown reason.

"I think she is waiting for something, I know she won't do anything on the days that Lena is there because my sister would probably murder her." Kathryn nodded knowing how crazy Zelena could be. "Mallory is definitely planning something, most likely when Lena leaves to go back to college." Regina breathed as the bell rang sounding it was time for her first period.

Getting to class Regina sat in her assigned seat and pulled out the book she was currently rereading. Opening to the last spot she'd left off she paid no attention to her classmates who were trying to remember their literary terms before the quiz.

"Class." Ms. Deville spoke as Regina marked her place and looked up at her teacher. To say that Regina was surprised was an understatement, the new girl was in their AP class, which was stupid in her opinion. It would be really hard for the girl to catch up having missed nearly two months of work on top of summer assignments. "We have a new student who is going to introduce herself." Ms. Deville smiled as everyone turned their attention to the blonde girl.

Regina looked the girl over, from what she could see the girl was rather beautiful. She had what seemed to be long blonde curls that were almost waves. Her eyes from where Regina sat were a sea foam green borderline blue. She was wearing a dark brown leather jacket over a black shirt, her jeans were a dark blue but not too dark to clash with the brown boots that matched her jacket.

"Names Emma Swan, I'm fifteen, and I hate that I'm probably going to have to introduce myself today more than once." Emma snarked as a few people in the class laughed as Regina stared at the girl. She was fifteen, but this was a senior advanced placement course, maybe there was a mistake.

"Why are you in a senior English class if you are fifteen?" Regina looked at Kathryn who seemed to have the same question that she did.

"Miss Midas, we raise our hands when we have questions." Kathryn rolled her eyes and put up her hand as Ms. Deville had an amused smirk before turning back to Emma waiting for the girls answer.

"I uh, skipped a few grades." Emma shrugged answering the question easily. Regina narrowed her eyes, the girl had to be a genius to have skipped so many grades.

"Very interesting, now please take the seat next to Miss Mills in front of Mr. Booth." Regina watched as Emma scanned the room and stopped as August waved to her. Regina watched from the corner of her eye as Emma took the seat to her left in front of August.

"Names August, if you need anything let me know."

"Uh, thanks." Regina watched as August winked at Emma before she turned around and Regina couldn't help but roll her eyes and scoff. All the boys were going to be on this girl because what, she was new? A new play thing, a new girl's pants to try and get into? Regina looked up only to meet Emma's sea foam eyes looking at her.

"Why would you join an AP course a month into the semester? That's idiotic." Regina whispered as the person who sat in front of her handed her the quiz. Regina immediately ignored everything around her, her sole focus going to the quiz that was in front of her. It was too easy, it had half of the words that Ms. Deville had given them to study.

Regina had easily finished the quiz in a few minutes and flipped it over indicating that she was finished. Reaching under her desk she grabbed her novel determined to finish at least a chapter more before Ms. Deville started teaching. Opening the book Regina submerged herself in the literature until she heard Ms. Deville's voice a few minutes later.

"Miss Swan, while I understand that you are new here and may not know the material that doesn't give you the right to disregard the work handed to you." Regina tried not to smirk, maybe the girl wasn't as much of a genius as she'd initially thought.

"I uh, finished the quiz." Emma stated plainly as the urge to smirk turned into a frown. The others around her were still working on the quiz that they'd had three days to prepare for. Emma was new, how had she finished in just a few minutes. It'd only been about ten minutes since the quiz had been given.

While there had been thirty terms out of the sixty given, there was no way that Emma had finished it that soon. Regina looked over her book to see the others in the class looking at Emma with amusement. It was a mistake to place a fifteen year old in a senior advanced placement class—

"Very good." Interrupted Regina's thoughts as Ms. Deville took the quiz with her walking around the room.

" _Usted engañó_." Regina muttered in her father's native language annoyed. There was no other way the girl had finished so quickly without looking off of her paper. She had to have cheated.

"I didn't cheat,, I just happen to know the material." Emma whispered as Regina looked over at her surprised that she knew Spanish. Emma simply smirked and turned back to her notebook. Regina stared at her a moment longer until looking down to see what she was doing.

A small barely audible gasp escaped her lips. It was a sketch of _her_. Emma was drawing her reading her book. But how had she developed the sketch in just a matter of minutes? So the girl was a genius and an artist, was there anything this girl couldn't do?

zZz

Emma looked at the food on her plate with minor interest as she thought about her morning classes. Besides Writing Concepts, Art Studio had been the only other enjoyable subject. Probability and Statistics was boring and to be honest a little difficult, just as her history class had been.

For Emma, Math and Science were not her best subjects, they were subjects she'd really have to apply herself if she wanted to pass with a semi-decent grade. At least she knew that her Spanish class wouldn't be difficult. Emma fluently spoke Spanish thanks to the first few families she'd been placed with. It was funny that she could speak Spanish just as well as she could speak English.

"Hey Emma, want some company?" Emma looked up broken from her thoughts.

"Uh, Elsa right?" Emma asked looking up at Elsa who nodded.

"This is Mulan and Chicha, and you already know Ariel." Elsa introduced as Emma looked at the girls and inwardly smirked. They were a diverse group of friends that was for sure. "Ladies, this is Emma Swan."

"How are you liking SHS so far?" Chicha asked taking a bite of a fry.

"It's certainly a lot different than my last few schools." Emma pointed out as Mulan raised a brow at that.

"What do you mean?"

"Well the class sizes are smaller, the teachers are friendly and seem to care about teaching, and everyone knows everyone." Emma clarified as the four nodded.

"Yeah, you'll get used to it, or not, this is senior year." Ariel pointed out as Emma nodded. Thank God it was her senior year, she wouldn't know what would happen if she still had to complete three more years of high school.

"Emma, real quick side note, I heard a rumor that you are only fifteen." Chicha pointed out as Emma nodded confirming the rumor.

"You lie! You're a senior or just in senior classes?" Elsa asked popping a grape into her mouth.

"I'm a senior, I skipped second and third grade, and my birthday is Friday, so I'll be sixteen." Emma shrugged taking a drink from the small carton of milk.

"Cool, what are you going to do to celebrate?" Ariel looked at Emma with such interest that alarmed Emma. Most people weren't interest in her, it was just something that didn't happen.

"Um, I don't celebrate, never have honestly." Emma shrugged as the four just stared at her.

"Why not?" Chicha asked with her mouth full as Elsa gave her a look and the girl gave her one back not caring.

"Some foster families don't really care about the kids they take in. I'm pretty sure most of them didn't even know my birthday. I mean there are good ones, there are great ones, I just haven't been lucky enough to go to another one since I was like seven years old." Emma explained as Elsa nodded and Emma looked at her.

"Yeah I get that, when my parents died we shifted around a few homes outside of Storybrooke before ending up with some relatives."

"We?" Emma inquired as Elsa nodded.

"I have a younger sister Anna, she's around your age. Well she just turned fourteen, she's a freshman." Elsa explained as Emma looked at her feeling a slight companionship.

"Oh, it's cool you got to stay together."

"Yeah it is, so anyways, you excited for Methods?" Elsa changed the topic as Emma just looked at her blankly.

"I don't know, should I be?"

"Oh, the three of us have Spanish together!" Ariel interrupted excitedly as Chicha looked at Emma and Elsa glared at her red headed friend.

" _¿Hablas español?_ "

" _Sí, una de mis primeras familias hablaban español. Así que he hablado español con tal de que tengo Inglés._ " Emma replied as Chicha smiled at the pronunciation.

" _Eso es maravillosa Emma! Yo Creo que le gustará nuestra profesora! Él es divertidísimo!_ " Ariel gushed happily as Emma smiled and Chicha agreed.

"Chicha, Ariel, not all of us speak Spanish." Mulan breathed as Elsa nodded chewing her food.

"Then maybe the two of you should learn." Chicha remarked with a smirk as they rolled their eyes.

"Don't you know like five languages Mulan? Why isn't Spanish one of them?" Mulan shrugged popping a grape into her mouth.

"I don't know, and I know four languages, not five, Ariel." Ariel stuck her tongue out as Emma laughed at the childish and carefree nature of the group.

"I really hate all of you and your other languages." Elsa muttered as all of the girls laughed this time.

"Nein!" Ariel grunted making them laugh harder.

zZz

To say that Emma had fun in her Spanish class would be an understatement, her cheeks hurt from how much laughing and smiling had occurred during the period. Her teacher, Señor Boots, was a middle age Hispanic man with a great sense of humor and a very odd teaching style.

"I can't believe he actually fenced another student while teaching!" Emma exclaimed as she an Ariel were walking toward their next class. Emma was rather curious about the class, this Methods of Magical Thought and Theory.

"Yeah, Mr. Gold has tried to get him to calm down with his teaching methods, but there is no arguing with Sr. Boots about how he teaches." Ariel pointed out as they entered the classroom. There were seven other people in the class including Elsa and much to Emma's surprise Regina Mills. Emma had found out her first name during lunch when Emma had asked about her when she sat down at a table with a group of people.

"Emma! Ariel! Over here!" Elsa called from the back table as Regina looked up at hearing the new girl's name. She had magic? Of course she had magic, the girl seemed to be nearly perfect in every way. Regina rolled her eyes as she looked down at the spell book. Today she was determined to get this particular spell correct, more so just to annoy her sister and be able to say that she got a handle on the spell before she had.

"Hello dearies." Regina looked up and at Mr. Gold who walked into the room with a smile. "Miss Swan, would you mind coming up here?" Regina as well as the others turned to look at the newest addition to their class as she got up from the chair and walked forward.

"I would like you to introduce yourself then I will have the rest of the class introduced their selves as well." Emma nodded slightly shocked that everyone would have to introduce their self, but it was a small class, maybe it was for bonding purposes.

"Hi, um, I'm pretty sure most of you have either met or heard about me today, but I'm Emma Swan."

"What year are you dearie, and give us a fun fact." Mr. Gold added with a coy smile as Emma tried not to glare at him.

"I'm a senior and this is my first time living in a small town." Emma spoke as Mr. Gold nodded accepting the answers.

"You may have a seat, Miss Bell, you may start."

"Oh, I'm Tina Bell, a junior and I like to tinker with things, so most people call me Tink." Emma looked at the blonde in the green sweater who'd just spoke.

"Names Damon Facilier, sophomore, and I don't like this class, my grandmamma is making me take it to get better." Emma raised a brow at the boy's smugness looking briefly at Mr. Gold who didn't even seemed fazed by the admission.

"Hi! I'm Esmeralda Heron, I'm a freshmen and I have pet goat and love to dance!"

"I'm Mallory Stilling and I'm a senior." Emma waited momentarily for some mundane fact but she didn't give one as she looked over to Regina who was glaring at her.

"My name is Regina Mills, I'm also a senior and I like to horseback ride." Regina pointed out as Mallory snorted only to receive another glare from Regina.

"Emma already knows my name, but I'm Elsa Winters, a senior who is so ready to graduate." Emma chuckled as Elsa winked at her as they turned their attention to Ariel.

"I'm also a senior and I have six older sisters!" Ariel smiled as Elsa bumped her arm and whispered 'your name'. "Oh right! I'm Ariel Titan!" Ariel laughed out as Emma smiled but saw Mallory roll her eyes.

"Well looks like I made it just in time for introductions." Regina rolled her eyes at her sister, always one for dramatics. "I'm Zelena Mills, I graduated some odd years ago, but I come in for lessons every once in a while when I'm home from teaching at the Salem Institute for Magical Beings." Emma looked at the curly redhead, she didn't look like Regina, but there were some things that suggested familial relations but nothing that outright shouted sisters.

"Lena I thought you were working?" Regina asked as Zelena shook her head.

"Granny only needed me for a few hours, and you know the Storybrooke grapevine, I wanted to come see if the rumors were true before I headed back to school." Zelena explained simply as she looked at the blonde in the back.

"Zelena, dear, are you staying?" Mr. Gold asked her as she looked up at the clock.

"For about twenty minutes." Zelena tossed over her shoulder as she took a seat next to Esmeralda and Damon.

"Today you will all work on your individual casting while I start out Miss Swan on the basics, understood?" Everyone nodded as Emma looked to Ariel and Elsa who just smirked.

"Have fun Emma!" Emma took a moment to take in the room. It was a science lab but Emma knew there was more to it, this was called _Methods of Magical Thought and Theory_ , but there was no way they were actually doing magic.

Her coven mother, before the accident had explained to her that magical people were a dying breed. Her coven mother had explained to her that the decision to keep Emma had been when she, herself had exhibited special abilities. Coven mother hadn't told her exactly what that'd had been but it was then she'd been able to practice small spells.

It wasn't until she was six years old Emma discovered something about herself when the family who'd adopted her gave her back to the orphanage. She could shift into her body into that of a cat and back again without any problem. She hadn't shifted since one nearly fatal accident seven years ago, but maybe that is why she was put in this class, but then again how would they know?

"Miss Swan?" Emma looked up not realizing that Mr. Gold had been standing in front of her.

"Oh, um, sorry." Mr. Gold just smiled as he looked at her.

"So dearie, what do you know about magic?"

"Outside of the TV show _Witches of East End_ and _Practical Magic_ , nothing." Emma pointed out as Gold looked at her with a smirk.

"I can tell you are lying, what about your little ability Miss Swan." She looked at him with a narrowed glared.

"How do you know about that? I haven't done that since I nearly died seven years ago. I'm not even sure I could do it anymore."

"I'm a very powerful magic user Emma. And you still have the knowledge of how to do it."

"I guess, I just have to concentrate, it's what I've always done. It used to be my way of escaping. It—" Emma swallowed the sudden lump that had formed in her throat as she thought about the many times morphing at night and sleeping under toys would save her from a foster parent's midnight excursions. "It saved me, more times than I care to remember." Emma finally finished as Mr. Gold nodded as if he understood, and maybe he did, Emma couldn't know unless she asked.

"What happened seven years ago that caused you stop using your gift?" Mr. Gold asked softly as Emma looked around the room. None of the students were paying her attention and if they were, well they were hiding it very well.

"A family I was with, they were gifted too, the parents. The first night I shifted in the home it nearly killed me. The shift was painful, it'd never been before. When I shifted back I ended up breaking a few bones and my nose wouldn't stop bleeding. I was in the hospital for almost two weeks. A cat may have nine lives Mr. Gold, but I do not." Emma explained as Mr. Gold nodded once more tapping his chin.

"Do you think that you could try, I would like to test you magical ability."

"How would me transforming help you test my magical ability?"

"You seem to be a shifter, a Werecat if you will. Your magical core is used mainly to help you shift. Some Weres are able to practice magic while others just get heightened abilities of their species. By assessing your magical core, I will know if this class is right for you. We have another Were in town, but she just has heightened abilities of her species, this class was not beneficial for her." Mr. Gold explained as Emma nodded as she stood up and looked around the room once more. Taking in a deep breath Emma focused her energy and her mind on her shifted form. Before she knew it she was bombarded by stronger smells due to her animal senses.

"Not your average house cat, Miss Swan." Mr. Gold chuckled as Emma heard a squeal and turned to the noise and saw that all eyes were on her now.

"Mr. Gold! What did you do to Emma!?" Ariel exclaimed her eyes wide as she looked at the medium size wild animal in their classroom.

"I did nothing Miss Titan, Emma is a Werecat, specifically a Puma." Emma turned looking at Mr. Gold her eyes wide at the information. Emma had just assumed she was like a house cat, but then again she'd been young when she would shift, that probably affected how big she was in her form. Looking down at her paws Emma couldn't help but lick the one and rub it over the top of her head.

"Oh, she's so cute!" Ariel and Elsa gushed walking over and petting Emma who started to purr at the attention. Regina stared at the gray-ish blonde Puma with green eyes while Zelena was questioning Gold about something she couldn't quite hear. So she wasn't exactly a witch or a fairy but a shifter, which would explain her intelligence, Weres were incredibly smart, they had to be in order to survive in their animal form.

Just as Regina was about to turn back to learning her spell Emma turned to her and their eyes met. Regina swallowed as she felt a warmth run through her as she continued to hold Emma's gaze. No, this wasn't good, Regina knew what this meant, and she didn't like the warmth she felt.

"You knew this was going happen didn't you?" Zelena huffed as everyone turned to the two oldest people in the room. Mr. Gold shrugged as he looked from Emma and Regina.

"I see glimpses of the future dearie, it changes so often I usually don't bother with that particular gift anymore. But this was one possibility, the others were a bond to Miss Stilling, Miss Winters, or yourself seeing as how your mother is bonded to your father. You four are the only candidates with magic strong enough to match Miss Swan's magical core. Her core is strong, she is unlike that of Miss Lucas, and she can practice magic. I have the belief that she may already know some spells."

"She can offer her strength to the person she is a familiar too." Elsa breathed as she continued to pet Emma who continued to purr listening to the conversation but not really understanding what they meant by being a familiar.

 _'I wonder if there is a blanket in here, not trying to be naked in my human form.'_ Emma looked around the room before she started walking around looking for something to cover herself when she transformed back into her human form.

"What's she doing?" Ariel asked as they watched Emma.

"She needs something to cover her, she wants to transform." Regina explained as Emma stopped her search and looked to the brunette.

 _'You can understand me?!'_ Regina nodded as Emma was suddenly across the room where Regina was working. Emma jumped onto the table careful not hit anything as she came eye-to-eye with dark cocoa eyes. _'Why? This is so weird! You smell really good.'_ Emma asked as Regina couldn't help but laugh at the sudden compliment she'd been given.

Sure she still had a distaste for the younger girl, especially since she seemed to smart, but she was a comrade in the magical world, and the girl didn't choose to be magical, she couldn't exactly hate her because she was smart.

"What's she saying?" Esmeralda asked.

"She wanted to know why I could understand her." Regina answered simply as Mallory rolled her eyes. It seemed that it was always the Mills women who got the best out of life.

"Why'd it make you laugh?" Tina asked as Regina ignored the question and looked back at Emma.

"Get on the floor." Regina spoke as Emma jumped down from the table and stood to the side of Regina looking up at her. Regina muttered something and flicked her wrist as a cloak appeared over Emma.

 _'Thanks!'_ Emma said before she transformed back into her human form and suddenly felt a warmth course through her. "Whoa! What was that?" Emma asked standing up securing the cloak around naked form.

"We will use the rest of class as a free period, feel free to do whatever you like students, I will have someone check in on you." Mr. Gold spoke as he looked at Emma and Regina. "We have quite a bit to talk about ladies."

"You may want to call our mother." Zelena spoke as Mr. Gold nodded.

"And Miss Blanchard." The Mills looked at Mr. Gold not understanding why the schoolteacher would need to be contacted.

"She's my foster mother." Emma clarified.

"You're a foster kid?" Zelena looked at Emma as they began their walk to Mr. Gold's office.

"Yeah, I was orphaned, a coven found me on the side of a highway just outside of Manhattan. I was with them until an accident took their lives." Emma answered easily even though the thought still hurt thinking about the women who'd raised her for the first part of her childhood.

"Wow, I'm sorry, I was in foster care until I was ten, when my mother found me. My biological father kidnapped me when I was born, he died of alcohol poisoning when I was two and I was placed in the system until my mother and Henry found me." Zelena explained as Emma nodded at the information unsure what else to do with it. "How long have you been with St. Mary Margaret?" Emma snorted at the unexpected nickname for her foster mother.

"I moved in Friday, and that nickname actually makes sense." Emma chuckled as Zelena nodded.

"It does, we went to high school together, she used to be different, but she lost her mother at the age of seventeen and her dad at eighteen. It affected her a lot more than anyone thought, especially since the sudden death of her father." Zelena explained as Regina elbowed her older sister.

"That's not your business to tell Lena, if Miss Blanchard wanted her to know she would have told her." Regina snapped as Zelena rolled her eyes.

"Actually Maggie did tell me that she lost her parents at a young age, I think she was trying to bond with me. But I was abandon, as a newborn, there is no bonding over that." Emma breathed looking down the long hallway as Mr. Gold just continued to walk listening to the conversation.

"I'm sorry," Regina whispered as Emma shrugged.

"Don't be, it's not your fault." Emma followed Mr. Gold into the main office.

"Lilia, please notify Miss Blanchard and Mayor Mills that they are needed in my office as soon as possible." Mr. Gold spoke to the secretary who'd given Emma her class schedule earlier that day.

"What should I tell them if they ask why they are needed so urgently?"

"Tell them it's regarding their children. That should be enough."

"I'm not Maggie's kid, she'd have to been like nine or ten when I was born." Emma commented as Mr. Gold waved her off as Lilia picked up the phone to call their parents. They walked into the spacious office and took a seat in the available chairs. Mr. Gold hadn't even made it too his desk before a navy smoke appeared. Emma jumped startled by the sudden appearance of the smoke that revealed an older woman looking slightly annoyed.

"This better be good Adam, I was in a meeting." The woman spoke without greeting as Emma blinked looking at the woman.

"I'll take it she's your mother?" Emma whispered looking to Zelena who nodded.

"Always one for the dramatics huh mother?" Zelena chuckled as Regina rolled her eyes.

"Like you have room to talk Lena." Regina muttered under her breath causing her sister to laugh. Cora looked at her daughters and at the unknown girl.

"We will await for Miss Blanchard until I discuss the matter of the situation." Mr. Gold prompted as Cora stood behind the chair that Regina was sitting in. Cora looked over to her oldest who was leaning against a bookshelf clearly amused.

"Why does the school teacher need to be here?" Emma sighed loudly causing Cora to look at the girl.

"She's my legal guardian." Emma breathed as Regina looked to her familiar. Regina was about to say something just had Mary Margaret entered the office.

"What happened? Is everything alright?" Emma raised her brow at the genuine concern the pixie haired brunette was showing. Mr. Gold indicated that Mary Margaret go to standing beside Emma's chair.

"There is no cause for alarm, however in my Methods of Magic class today I was testing Miss Swan's magical core and it seems she is a Werecat, a Puma to be exact." Emma cast a side glance to gauge Maggie's reaction.

"You have magic Emma? Why didn't you tell me? That's awesome." Emma tried to keep herself from laughing at the childlike wonder her foster mom was showing.

"I didn't think it was a big deal." Emma shrugged as Mr. Gold continued talking.

"Upon transforming, she bonded with Regina."

"WHAT?" Cora gasped looking down at her youngest daughter who was looking down at her hands.

"It's nothing to cause alarm—" Mr. Gold tried but Cora shook her head.

"She's not even eighteen yet, she shouldn't have been able to be bonded. Her core is not fully matured to take on a familiar. A bond could kill her, could kill them both." Mr. Gold shook his head.

"No, Miss Swan is a very special case." He smirked looking to Emma who raised her brow looking at the man. "The product of True Love from two different magical beings."

"Oh bullshit."

"Emma!" Zelena snorted trying to cover up her laughter as he mother glared at her causing her to shrug her shoulders.

"As I was saying, the bond would not have been created if it wasn't meant to be."

"Mr. Gold, you know what this means." He nodded as Mary Margaret looked from the Mayor to the Principal.

"I, being the only magicless one in here does not know. Care to explain what this bond between the children means?" Mary Margaret question as Emma nodded.

"Yeah, I may have magic but I don't know anything about it." Emma added.

"This practically marries us." Regina breathed as Emma looked at Regina blinking.

"Well, ok." Emma shrugged as everyone looked to the blonde and her acceptance of being practically married off.

"You're ok with it, just like that?" Regina stared at Emma who nodded.

"I mean you're pretty attractive, obviously smart cause we share some of the same classes. While I don't know you all that well, I can see that you have a very protective family. You seem like a good person, I could be stuck with worse." Regina felt herself blush at the compliments as she stared at Emma.

"This is going to be fun." Zelena smirked as everyone looked to the redhead in attendance. "What? It is."


End file.
